Sneak peek at Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013

11 August 2013

Before the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 exhibition opens in October, here's a flavour of what's to come from this year's winning collection.

These two images will sit among 100 awe-inspiring photographs in the exhibition, selected from thousands of international entries, which highlight rarely seen wonders of the natural world.

Sockeye catch, Valter Bernardeschi (Italy)

Valter Bernardeschi took this shot in the South Kamchatka Sanctuary in the Russian Far East.

Each year between July and September, millions of sockeye salmon migrate from the Pacific, up rivers to the fresh waters of Lake Kuril, to spawn in the waters where they were born. This volcanic crater lake is the largest sockeye salmon spawning ground in Eurasia.

The salmon attract Kamchatka brown bears from the surrounding forests to feast on the fish and fatten up for hibernation.

Following the bears' lead, Valter waded into the icy water to get the right perspective, and wait for an action moment - a real test of physical endurance.

He says, ‘I almost became one of them... in the silence of the Garden of Eden I did not think about anything else’.

The bear reared up three metres on its hind legs and scanned the water for fish.

Suddenly, it pounced on a female salmon swollen with roe, the force sending a string of crimson eggs spinning out of her body.

Twin hope, Diana Rebman (USA)

The twin mountain gorillas in Rebman's photo, below, are the fifth set of twin gorillas ever reported in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park.

Diana Rebman says the hike to find the mountain gorillas was particularly tough on the day she took the photograph. ‘Consistent rain made the ground slippery and the hillside was so steep it felt vertical.’

This mother was nursing her six-month-old infants, while feeding herself. When the silverback leader of the group chased her from a nettle patch, she vocalised at him loudly, but moved on.

‘In this picture she is still tense from the encounter’, says Diana, ‘and continues to glance across at him while she eats.’

But the twins’ future remains uncertain.

The mountain gorilla is critically endangered. Habitat loss, poaching and disease are still threats, as are warring rebel factions active in the gorillas' range.

Get ready for the exhibition

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 is open from 18 October 2013 - 23 March 2014.